A known shade apparatus is disclosed in patent documents, such as JP9076760A. The shade apparatus includes a transparent slide panel for covering an opening, which is formed on the rooftop of the vehicle and capable of being opened and closed. The shade apparatus further includes a winding-type roof shade apparatus which has a light-blocking effect and which is positioned on the inside of the transparent slide panel. The winding-type roof shade apparatus includes a lock mechanism provided at an end of a sheet-type shade cloth for securing a fixing element as a garnish, which is provided at the end of the shade cloth, to a slide panel, or to a roof frame, so as to prevent it from being wound too far.
The winding-type roof shade is opened in accordance with a slide operation of the slide panel. In this way, the opening of the rooftop is opened, as a result natural light enters into the compartment, and both good ventilation and a feeling of expansitivity can be obtained.
Furthermore, while the slide panel is in a closed state, and merely opening the winding-type roof shade on the inside of the transparent window by unlocking the lock mechanism, natural light enters into a compartment, and accordingly a feeling of expansitivity can still be obtained without the slide panel being opened.
Another known shade apparatus is disclosed in a patent document, such as JP8310247A. Instead of the winding-type roof shade apparatus, this shade apparatus includes a panel-type sunshade. This panel-type sunshade can be opened in conjunction with the slide panel, but can also be opened independently of the slide panel.
Thus, a need exists for a shade apparatus that includes a two-way winding roof shade apparatus, a shade apparatus which can operate a non-rigid member, such as a shade cloth, without difficulty, both automatically in conjunction with the movement of the slide panel, and manually.
Another known shade apparatus is disclosed in a patent document, such as JP06085109U. The shade apparatus includes a structure for guiding a shade, and maintaining the shade at determined positions, a structure in which a head formed at the edge of a rod of a certain is provided inside an “enclosed” groove (with a cross section in the shape of a letter C) of a curtain rail. The head is biased toward a center of the rod in a longitudinal direction so as to be engaged with a sidewall of the enclosed groove. In this configuration, the curtain is guided by the head, which slides in the enclosed groove, and which is maintained at a determined position while the head of the rod is engaged with the sidewall of the enclosed groove.
Still another known shade apparatus is disclosed in a patent document, such as JP5199933A, in which a slide pin is provided at the edge of a rod of a curtain, and a disc is provided near a head of the slide pin, an arrangement wherein the disc is biased by a spring toward the head of the slide pin. The head of the slide pin is provided inside a channel of the rail, and the disc is engaged with the outer surface of the rail. In this configuration, the curtain is guided while the head of the slide pin passes through the channel of the rail, and the curtain is maintained at a specific position by the disc engaged with the outer surface of the rail.
According to the shade apparatus disclosed in JP06085109U, each of the heads is biased toward the central portion of the rod so as to engage with the inner surface of the curtain rail, and a degree of power required for pushing the head of the rod toward the inner surface of groove has varied depending on a space between the curtain rails.
Further, according to the shade apparatus disclosed in JP5199933A, the enlarged head portion of the slide pin itself is engaged with the rail, and only the disc, which is pushed outward in a longitudinal direction of the rod, is engaged with the outer surface of the rail. Thus, a degree of power for elastically pushing the disc toward the outer surface of the rail has varied depending on a space between the rails.
In such configurations, because the degree of power required for elastically pushing the rail ray vary, depending on the space between the rails, an operational force needs to be changed while the curtain is being pulled out.
Thus, a need exists for a shade apparatus that maintains an operational force at as a regular level as possible, for purposes of opening and closing the shade, and for maintaining the shade at a specific position. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides such a shade apparatus.